The Power of Five
#3844.01 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 5 books Status Complete 2005–2012 Reading commitment Medium Anthony Horowitz Last reviewed 2026-10-23
Overview
Anthony Horowitz's The Power of Five, published in the United States as The Gatekeepers, follows five teenagers, Matthew Freeman, Pedro, the twins Scott and Jamie Tyler, and Scarlett Adams, who are destined to defeat the Old Ones, demons who once ruled the world before five children banished them more than ten thousand years ago. Two gates were built between Earth and their prison, Raven's Gate in the English village of Lesser Malling and a second gate in the Nazca Desert of Peru, and the evil Nightrise Corporation stands against the five. The series moves from a sinister English village and a Peruvian desert to a Nevada theatre and a Hong Kong poisoned into a city of the dead, and ends with the five lost in a hostile, devastated world.
Dark fantasy, Urban fantasy · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (5 works) counts toward ranking
The Power of Five Anthony Horowitz
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Raven's Gate | 2005 | 1 | core | 3.90 (28,644 ratings) |
 | Evil Star; ISBN recorded is a Walker Books paperback edition. | 2006 | 2 | core | 3.97 (19,448 ratings) |
| Nightrise | 2007 | 3 | core | 4.03 (15,620 ratings) | |
| Necropolis | 2008 | 4 | core | 4.13 (13,383 ratings) | |
| Oblivion | 2012 | 5 | core | 4.25 (8,457 ratings) |
Anthony Horowitz's five-book war between the Gatekeepers and the Old Ones; The Gatekeepers in the US.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Power of Five? The Power of Five's Core Canon is 5 books.
- What is the reading order for The Power of Five? Publication order, starting with Raven's Gate. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Power of Five finished? Complete (2005–2012).
- How much reading does The Power of Five take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 5 Core Canon books).
- How is The Power of Five ranked? #384 in this site's official ranking, based on 85,552 reader ratings across 5 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #384?
Ranked #384 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.01 across 5 core books.
- A smaller readership (85,552 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #383, The Ten Thousand Doors of January (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 5 books · Complete · 86k ratings · Ranks #384 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length dark fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (5 Core Canon books)
- Raven's Gate (2005)
- Evil Star (2006)
- Nightrise (2007)
- Necropolis (2008)
- Oblivion (2012)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.01 across 85,552 ratings on 5 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon extension: The Power of Five (Anthony Horowitz) accepted 2026-10-23
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia (The Power of Five) Tier 2
- Shelf page on the rating platform (ratings and years with titles) Tier 2
- Reader list on the rating platform (ratings with titles) Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-10-23
Rule: Core Canon = Raven's Gate (2005), Evil Star (2006), Nightrise (2007), Necropolis (2008) and Oblivion (2012).